Monthly Archives: December 2012

Re: the alleged link to Occupy Wall Street (OWS) in media reports about the arrest of two Greenwich Village residents charged yesterday with possession of weapons/explosive material.

Since its beginnings in September 2011, Occupy Wall Street has vigorously used its Constitutional rights to protest Wall Street greed, and is firmly committed to non-violence. Nonetheless, Occupy has been subjected to extensive surveillance and repression, and the NYPD takes every opportunity to link OWS to crime.

There is nothing in the news stories to support a link between OWS and the individual arrested; his name is unfamiliar to many OWS activists. A very large number of people came through Zuccotti Park, and there are countless Occupy-related groups nationwide, so it is very difficult to ascertain if one person participated in anything related to OWS.

We urge members of the media to refrain from spreading rumors and misinformation.

New York—With winter closing in and anger rising at Mayor Bloomberg’s foot-dragging, New Yorkers hard hit by Hurricane Sandy will be on the streets on Saturday, Dec. 15 in the Rockaways and Staten Island, with many converging Saturday PM outside the mayor’s Manhattan home. Thousands of New Yorkers are still without power or heat and are fighting for survival against black mold and bureaucracy.

Saturday will be a first – New Yorkers taking collective action to protest the government’s glaringly inadequate response to the storm, and to demand: emergency local housing, immediate mold remediation and an end to red tape and delays in deploying critical resources. Community residents and activists from groups including Occupy will raise the question, how, in this great city, can thousands still be without electricity, living with mold creeping up walls and getting sicker in an emerging public health crisis.

As the weeks have gone by, many of those hit by Sandy’s fury sense betrayal and are now raising their voices, leafleting and standing together; hundreds are expected to join the protests.

Rockaways 12:00 Noon
Community members gather at Mott Ave. and Beach 21st St. (Thriftway parking lot), and in a show of solidarity, will “March for Health, Housing and Just Recovery” to Beach 29th St. (bet. Seagirt and Boardwalk) while getting a close-up view of homes devastated in the storm including those contaminated by black mold and still without utilities.

Staten Island 12:00 Noon
Residents will gather outside 1128 Olympia (across from St. Margaret Mary’s Church) for a community speakout, and then depart as a group for a ‘Tour of Destruction” of damaged and mold-plagued houses in the area with a public health expert from Hunter College. A statement from Staten Islanders is online at: http://pastebin.com/Q3gBV2ja.

Manhattan 5:00 PM
Rally at Bloomberg’s townhouse, 17 E. 79th St (bet. Madison and Fifth Ave.) – those still suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane will gather, taking their plight to the door of the mayor’s private residence. Staten Islanders, Rockaways residents, community allies will join together for an action in the darkness, emblematic of thousands who are still without power.

Who is Paying for Sandy? New Report from Occupy Offshoot Reveals Debt-Burden as Trade for “Aid”

Who is really payingfor the Sandy Recovery? An important and little understood question. Strike Debt, an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, has just released a detailed and scathing report about the state of hurricane relief around New York City. Post-Sandy, loans are being used as the main form of federal “aid” to disaster-impacted communities and the financial burden lies on individuals, many who are already struggling with debt. Read the report, entitled “Shouldering the Cost”, which includes assessments and recommendations from grassroots responders about the state of Post-Sandy recovery.

Other findings include:
FEMA and the Red Cross have been incredibly slow in responding and haven’t been able to meet basic needs of affected communities; thousands of residents are still living with inconsistent power, heat and hot water, even a month after the storm hit.

EMERGENCY PROTEST AS SPECTRA PIPELINE TAKES CRUCIAL CONSTRUCTION STEP IN WEST VILLAGE

This Saturday, December 1, at 1 PM, residents and activists will protest construction of the Spectra Pipeline, a high-pressure gas pipeline being built at Gansevoort Street and the West Side Highway. If completed it will bring ‘fracked’ gas from Pennsylvania and New Jersey into densely populated NYC. The emergency protest was called because organizers learned construction, which had been halted for the season, will resume for a crucial ‘pullback’. During this step, the pipe is pulled back through a hole under the Hudson River in one long continuous, uninterruptible operation.

Over four months, a coalition of residents, artists and activists called Occupy the Pipeline has waged a multi-tiered campaign to stop the pipeline’s construction because if it is completed the pipeline poses serious health risks to all of NYC from possible explosions and increased exposure to radon. The construction of the pipeline will also increase reliance on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a controversial method of shale gas extraction.

Spectra was given permission to start construction despite a pending state-level lawsuit pending challenging the construction’s legality, and despite a pending federal-level lawsuit that will get underway in several weeks. Thousands have expressed opposition via comments to the federal agency in charge [Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)], letters to state, federal and local government, and continuous actions and protests at the site that have resulted in eight arrests.

“Spectra Energy Corporation and their government allies are trying to rush this through without listening to the people,” said Monica Hunken, an organizer with Occupy the Pipeline. “They think we’re not paying attention; they’re wrong — we will not let one drop of gas flow through it.”

The protest will be highly visual: participants will have images and mementos to symbolize what they are protecting, such as photos of friends and lovers, or their pets.